Fallen into Place

Alice had bid farewell to her sister and brother-in-law almost a week ago, but now she was planning on babysitting not two adults, but three young children. Brent and Dayna Seabrook, Duncan and Kelly-Rae Keith, and Patrick and Abby Sharp were going on a triple date, asking Alice and Andrew if they'd watch the kids for a couple hours. Of course Alice couldn't deny it; she loved them. Andrew made sure to pick up any edible thing and put them out of reach. Alice made sure that the house was clean and ready to go.

The first one that arrived was Colton Keith. Kelly-Rae made sure to give every exact detail about his eating and sleeping schedule. Even if he was going to be there for only a couple hours, Alice listened intently incase she would watch him again. Madelyn came next and basically went right to the living room to play with her dolls she brought. Making Andrew play dolls with her was tough at first, but he easily caved. Little baby Seabrook was the last to arrive. Carter was in a bundle of blankets and asleep. Alice delicately held Carter as she ordered Maddy and Andrew to go get the chicken fingers ready. Alice thought the little girl was going to explode when she heard what they were planning on eating for dinner.

Setting both Carter and Colton in their high chairs, Alice held the carrot baby food in her one hand for Colton and in the other was formula for Carter. She was used to taking care of babies since a young age, so Andrew let her take care of feeding them. Andrew and Maddy set the table and immediately dug in while Alice heated up the milk for a few seconds in the microwave. Alice took a quick bite of the chicken and spooned out the strained carrots, feeding them to Colton.

When they were done, Andrew burped Carter. Everyone went in the living room, sitting on the blanket on the floor that had tons of toys spread out. Maddy went to her dolls walking them around like they were real people, while Colton and Carter crawled around, sucking on their fingers.

"Isn't Carter's middle name cool?" Alice said to Andrew. Seven was so interesting and a shocker when Dayna gave birth and they told everyone his full name.

"Yes," he agreed and smiled. "If we ever have a child their middle name is going to be sixty five."

Alice looked at him like he had two heads. "No it's not!" And that ended that conversation.

Maddy thrusted a Barbie into Alice's hands, making her play. Alice didn't mind though, it had been forever since she was able to act like a little kid. She couldn't help but think it could always be like this if they had a child of their own. But, for right now, Alice could live with this. It was fun and entertaining to play and be with them. She was in the middle of changing her Barbie into a dress when Carter let out a loud cry. Andrew tried burping him again, which made Alice giggle.

"No, I think his diaper's full."

The two looked at each other. "Not it," they both said at the same time. Andrew narrowed his eyes at her holding out his hands, indicating to play rock paper scissors. "Rock, paper, scissors!"

Alice chuckled at him as he rose to his feet. He walked upstairs to the bigger bathroom to change him. It was about Carter's bedtime, so Alice called up to Andrew to put him to bed as well. They put the little crib the Seabrooks brought in a spare room; it would maybe be to loud in the living room. Colton crawled over to Alice and sat on her lap. He let out a yawn and rested his small head on her shoulder. He tugged on her yellow shirt as he tried to position himself better to be more comfortable. Alice stood up with him in her arms and she looked back to Maddy still playing with those dolls. Alice walked upstairs to the extra room, seeing Andrew standing by the crib as he watched Carter fall asleep.

"Can you go get the other crib downstairs by the door?" Alice asked and looked down at Carter as well. He was so cute, Alice resisted the urge to just pick him up and give him a bunch of kisses.

Andrew walked in and set up the crib as Colton slept on Alice's shoulder. Andrew needed to hurry up, she didn't like leaving Maddy downstairs by herself. Alice gently placed Colton in the crib. Pulling a blanket on him, he clutched it for dear life. Andrew wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into him. They both watched baby Keith fall into slumber.

As Alice and Andrew walked to the living room, they saw that Maddy was now sitting on the couch, clicking her feet together as she watched some cartoon on the television. Alice and Andrew plopped down on each side of her, and Andrew grabbed her and put her on his lap. She smiled up at him for a brief moment before going back to the show. There were ponies jumping around and talking and both adults cringed.

Alice clutched her stomach, feeling cramps. She shut her eyes tightly and waited until it would go away. After a few moments, most of the pain went away and now it felt dull.

Andrew looked at her cautiously before asking, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think it's just my time of the month."

Maddy turned her attention to Alice and crawled over to her. She smiled and placed a hand over Alice's belly. "My mommy gets... cramps." She still kept her hands on her small stomach.

"Oh, well I don't think we have the same thing happening. I don't have a baby it my tummy."

"You don't?" Alice laughed at her curiosity. She knew Maddy didn't mean that in a mean way. "My mommy does..."

"Uh huh. Are you excited to be having a baby sister?"

Maddy shrugged, taking her hand off and sitting down in between the couple. She grabbed a pink stuffed bear and held it close to her. Alice recognized it as a bear Adam Burish sent to Maddy last year for her birthday. Maddy crossed her legs and finally replied. "Not really."

Andrew laughed. "Why not?"

Maddy shrugged again. "I don't know. I like mommy and daddy by myself." That was a common answer for any little girl with her mother expecting. Alice never went through it, but if she ended up having a little sibling she knew she probably wouldn't have liked it.

The conversation was over after that. Maddy payed attention to the show and Andrew and Alice painfully watched along. Andrew got ice cream for everyone and while he was scooping it out of the container, Maddy decided to watch the Scooby Do movie instead, which Andrew was pleasantly surprised with. He didn't know how much longer he could take that girly show.

Half way through the movie, someone knocked on their door. Andrew opened it and saw all three couples standing, waiting to see their child again.

"Did you guys have a good time?"

They all nodded, saying that they did. Maddy was half asleep but she managed running into her father's arms. Alice went up stairs, grabbing both Colton and Carter and bringing them to Dayna and Kelly. Patrick said they went to a fancy restaurant just outside of Chicago and ate so much it felt like they were going to explode. The little kids all got wrapped up in their coats and put their shoes on and headed out.

"Thank you so much," Abby said, bringing Alice in for a hug. Everyone said similar things before walking to their cars.

After they left, the two headed to the couch and Alice made Andrew rub her feet and legs since her whole body felt in pain. She took short breaths and concentrated on blocking the pain out. Andrew kept an eye on his girlfriend, making sure she was doing okay. He has never seen her like this before.

"Are you sure your fine? I've never seen you in so much pain."

She nodded. "I'm fine. Maybe I just need a bath."



"So are you feeling okay?" Andrew asked for the hundredth time as he set the bowl of cereal in front of Alice on the wooden coffee table. Andrew stared at her as she flopped her spoon around in the milk and already soggy cereal.

She shrugged lightly, putting all her attention to the food she was playing with. She brought it to her lips, taking a small bite before setting it back down on the table. "I guess."

"Did you get... it?"

Alice chuckled and nodded. It made her laugh at how terrified Andrew was of saying normal girl things out loud. It was like he was sickened to have feminine words come out of his mouth. She was surprised he could say bra without choking. "Yeah. I'm not really in the mood for cereal."

"What would you like then?"

"Fries," Alice admitted shyly and looked away. Andrew laughed and nodded his head, standing up.

"Okay, I'll go get you some fries."

When he left, Alice walked over to the fridge. She opened the top where the freezer was and shivered as she searched for exactly what she wanted. Nothing really came off appealing, but as her eyes locked with the tub of ice, she reached in and took of few of the cubes and plopped them in her mouth. For some reason ice was definitely what she wanted.